


now alone i lie and weep beside the tree

by buries



Series: [challenge] fan_flashworks [4]
Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: Abandonment, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Community: fan_flashworks, Drowning, F/M, Graphic Description, Grief/Mourning, Haunting, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:47:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27224500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buries/pseuds/buries
Summary: Rebecca in the aftermath.
Relationships: Rebecca Jessel/Peter Quint
Series: [challenge] fan_flashworks [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1924795
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18
Collections: fan_flashworks





	now alone i lie and weep beside the tree

**Author's Note:**

> to say i am a little obsessed with rebecca/peter (and them as separate characters) would be an understatement. i know that their relationship isn't sunshine and rainbows and has abusive characteristics in it, but it was a great exploration of love being mixed with possession. i wish we got more of them. (the actors had such incredible chemistry, too.)
> 
> this references canonical character death and contains spoilers for 1x07.
> 
> this was written for fan_flashwork's #314 "nightmare" and the prompt "peace." 
> 
> title is from kingston trio-o's willow waly. unbeta'd, all mistakes are mine. thanks for reading. ♥

She wakes. She walks. She never rests.

Rebecca’s feet never feel firm against the ground. Bared, she spreads her toes against the wooden floorboards outside of her room and watches as the Lady of the Lake walks right through her. She tracks mud where Rebecca tracks nothing at all.

She wanders through the house, the rooms dark despite the windows being wide open. Owen’s dinner smells of nothing. The kitchen is bright with laughter yet it appears dull to her. Hollowed out, her seat unoccupied and her placemat not even out. 

Watching from the dark corner of the kitchen, Hannah’s gaze flickers to hers, but she sees right through her. Rebecca is nothing but brick. 

She cannot hear half of the words they mumble nor does Flora’s laughter hit her as warmly as it once did. She feels and hears everything through a thick puddle of water.

She leaves and he follows her, but Rebecca refuses to look back. When he morphs into her shadow, she tilts her head up, straightens her back, and feels her feet press sharply against the ground. 

_Becs_ feels like a dagger of water cutting through her. Lungs aching, chest burning, her throat tightens as she wills herself not to cry.

Peter follows her. He never sleeps. He wakes, he walks, and he follows her, unrestful in her shadow. She pays him no mind. His shadow tries to smother her in the daylight but she refuses to be drowned.

As she walks out of the house and to the lake, her feet begin to grow muddied and wet by the bank. She stands at the very edge, the water pressing against her toes, and she watches as the still surface takes life after life with every bug and leaf that flutters into it. She no longer rests in the water, buried deep in the ground where she’ll never be able to walk.

"Becs, c’mon," he says, voice cracking. He’s behind her, a cold, hollow thing, and she only tilts her head up more defiantly. "I _love_ you."

Swallowing thickly, she steps into the water willingly. She wishes for it to take her as he watches, feet encased in thick shoes, his clothing dry.

Rebecca submerges herself. She wakes, she walks, and she doesn’t rest at all. He waits for her on the surface, looming over her as a shadow. She walks to him at the bottom of the lake.

Now, he refuses to leave her alone.


End file.
